US suspends food aid to Ethiopia because of diversions

The United States' aid agency said on Thursday it had suspended food assistance to Ethiopia because its donations were being diverted from people in need. "After a country-wide review, USAID determined, in coordination with the government of Ethiopia, that a widespread and coordinated campaign is diverting food assistance from the people of Ethiopia," a spokesperson for the agency said.

"As a result, we made the difficult but necessary decision that we cannot move forward with distribution of food assistance until reforms are in place," the spokesperson said, adding that deliveries would resume once USAID was confident in the integrity of the system.